Hydroelastic responses and interactions of floating fuel storage modules placed side-by-side with floating breakwaters

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the hydroelastic responses and hydrodynamic interactions of two large floating fuel storage modules placed side-by-side with the presence of floating breakwaters. These modules and breakwaters form the floating fuel storage facility (FFSF). The floating storage modules and breakwaters are modeled as plates and the linear wave theory is used to model the water waves in the numerical model. The numerical model is verified with existing numerical results and validated with experimental test. Numerical simulations are performed to determine the hydroelastic behavior and hydrodynamic interactions of floating storage modules placed adjacent to each other and enclosed by floating breakwaters under various incident wave angles. The effects of breakwaters, drafts, channel spacing formed by the two adjacent modules and water depth on the hydroelastic responses of the modules are investigated. The wave induced responses of multiple floating storage modules enclosed by floating breakwaters are also examined. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.